


This is, where the healing begins

by NeverEndingStory



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A Lot of Issues, Angst, Awkward Sterek, Daddy!Derek, Derek/Pack Bonding, F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Slow build Sterek, learn to be a parent, learn to be a werewolf
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-05
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 08:03:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/672117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverEndingStory/pseuds/NeverEndingStory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*FANFIC IS ON HOLD until I find some inspiration again*</p><p>He notices Derek’s whole body tighten and sees the helpless expression on the alpha’s face, even though he’s clearly fighting it. Whatever’s going on, it’s freaking Derek out and Stiles isn’t sure if he should stay and listen or run for his life while he still has the chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by a post on tumblr, which doesn't exist anymore ... D:  
> Thanks to my lovely Betas Jenny (sayhellotomshyde) and Brea (0happyeverafter0)~! <3

## 

The Sheriff gets out of the patrol car, straightening his belt and giving the house an incredulous look.  He needs a second to convince himself not to turn around and leave again before steeling himself and starting to walk toward the door.

“Derek?” he shouts out louder than necessary. He’s learned a few things over the past few weeks that he’s still trying to get used to.

Before he can knock, however, he notices a figure off to the side at the end of the porch, making him wince and reach for his gun.  But he stops short when he recognizes who it is.

“Sheriff, “ Derek inclines his head in greeting, arms behind his back and eyes wandering from the sheriff’s face to his gun and back again, not bothering to hide a faint grin.

“The fact that this thing can’t kill you actually just encourages me to use it.  So no creeping up on me, understand?”  The sheriff’s tone is playful, but didactic, and Derek dinks his head, smiling.  ‘Like father like son,’ he thinks, before setting his poker face back in place.

“What can I do for you?”

“Tonight is a full moon.  I trust that you’ll have things under control.”  The sheriff gets straight to the point, waiting for the only acceptable answer.

“Of course,” Derek replies simply, getting nothing but a stern gaze from the sheriff for a few more moments.

“Good,” the sheriff nods.  “Because if there is another ‘animal attack’ I will hold you personally responsible.”  He turns to leave, then hesitates, bringing up a hand as if he has more to add.  But he opts for another stern look full of warning instead, before returning to his patrol car.

After all he’s seen so far, he really doubts anything will ever really work out as planned, but he decides to play along for the moment and hope for the best. There’s not much he could do otherwise, anyway.

Derek doesn’t miss the concern evident in the older man, but before he can react his attention is diverted by the unmistakable sound of tires on gravel as a familiar blue jeep pulls up between them.

The two men remain still, watching as a pair of far too unconcerned boys emerge from inside.

“Dad?” Stiles shouts in surprise.  “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he says, laying an arm on top of his own vehicle as he looks straight into his son’s eyes.

“Preparations~ … You know?! The full moon…”

Stiles gestures simply toward Scott, who’s already gotten his bag out of the jeep and is walking toward him, nodding a greeting to his best friend’s father.

“Mm hm … “  He really doesn’t want to know what’s in the bag, and a quick glance to the man in front of the burned down house tells him he’s not alone in that thought.

“Well, I think they can handle it on their own, Stiles.  You’re coming with me.”

“What?!”  Stiles blurts out immediately.  “You can’t be serious!  Do you know how many times I’ve saved their little werewolf asses?  They will be so dead without-“

“No arguments, Stiles,” the shreiff interrupted.  “Get in the car.”

“What about my jeep?  I can’t just leave it here.”  Stiles adds desperately, as if this would be the one argument that could sway him.

“I’m sure Scott will take care of it. Right, Scott?”

Scott just nods, knowing there’s no use going against the sheriff once he’s made up his mind.  The two Stilinskis have that much in common, at least.

Stiles, on the other hand, throws his head back in exasperation, obviously unahppy with this course of events.  But he hands over the keys without another word, knowing that the whole werewolf thing is still new to his father and that he’s one strike away from the possibility of military school.

“Not a single scratch, dude!”  Stiles pointed emphatically at Scott before walking toward the cruiser, eyeing his father in near disbelief.  “You know you can’t protect me from all this, don’t you?”

“Won’t stop me from trying,” the sheriff replies with a smile.

 

**-**

Once the patrol car is out of sight, Scott turns and heads toward the rotten porch.

“You can put your bag back in the jeep.  You won’t be needing it,” Derek says, stopping Scott in his tracks.

“I’m pretty sure I will.  Especially if you lock us up in this house like you said you would.  I mean, do you really think that’s safe?”  Scott eyes the ruin of the Hale house with barely concealed doubt, truly concerned about Derek’s plan.

“I’m not locking you up _inside_ the house. I’m locking you up under it,” the older wolf clarifies, as if that makes it any better.

“Wait. You’re gonna lock us in the basement? Where your ... you know ... ?!”

Scott cuts himself, realizing that there is no chance to end that sentence in a sensitive way. 

Derek already stressed out by the thought process of Scott, just rolls his eyes and sighs.

“Yes, Scott.  The basement.”  He leaves the porch but stops when he reaches the teen.  “I’m going to lock you in a cell.  It’s the safest place.  You won’t be able to break out from there.”  Honestly, Derek isn’t too pleased about the situation either, but considering the last few full moons he figures it’s for the best to give it a try.

Eventually Scott comes to the same realization and stores his bag in Stiles’ jeep without further discussion.

 

**-**

This full moon isn’t a rough one.

The other three betas are getting better at controlling their shift and the strong stone walls of the cells take care of the rest.

Derek is still uncomfortable with the thought of using the basement again after everything that happened.  But since that’s what the cells were designed for, he figures it’s the best option they’ve got.  He knew he should have done this sooner and spared everyone the trouble searching for alternatives, but the one sore spot he really has is his family.  Some things just take time.

As he leaves the basement his thoughts drift to his pack.  He isn’t surprised that Isaac and Scott were still needing restraints, but he hadn’t expected Boyd to join them.  He is still a sensitive subject, one that Derek is still learning to deal with.

Just two weeks earlier the alpha pack had used the newest werewolf as bait.  The pack was able to retrieve him, but he barely survived.  Boyd chose not to rejoin the pack and Derek didn’t ask him to come back. But he didn’t search for a new pack either, nor did he choose to side with Scott.  Derek thought he might just need time to consider all his options and decide which was best for him.  What was safest.

So when Boyd showed up on Derek’s doorstep asking for help, trusting his experience on the full moon, he couldn’t say no.  It feels good to be needed, to be part of a pack again.  He knows he shouldn’t hang everything on a bunch of teenagers, that they are fickle by nature, but it’s in his blood to be part of a pack. And whether they accept him as their alpha or not, he still takes solace in acting the part, keeping them safe and doing whatever it takes to protect them.

Once inside, Derek sits down on the barely functioning couch, the only remaining furniture in the once grand sitting room of the fire-gutted Hale house.  He hopes that he might be able to escape his thoughts for a moment and rest, but that’s shattered by the buzzing of his cell phone vibrating, loud in the silence.

He finds it atop a stack of books on top of a charred table in the living room where he had left it when he went downstairs to set up the basement for the betas.  He was surprised to see five missed messages and he opened them curiously, wondering who could have sent them.

 

From: Stiles  - 09:23pm

Full moon is smiling brightly. How are things going?

 

From: Stiles – 09:47pm

Everything okay? Don’t ignore me!

 

From: Stiles – 09:55pm

I’ll swear by god, if you’re just ignoring me, I’ll kick your little werewolf ass out of town!

 

One missed call

From: Stiles – 10:03pm

 

From: Stiles – 10:41pm

Seriously is everything okay? Are they still locked up or are they already killing people?!

Is someone dead? What’s going on? Call me!

 

From: Derek – 10:42pm

Everything’s fine. Stop texting.

 

The sound of a twig snapping outside diverts his attention from his phone and he reaches out with all his senses to see what caused it.  Then he hears it.  The distinct sound of a heart beating.  He stands, tensed for a confrontation, but then he catches a familiar scent.  Pack?  No, not quite.  Family.  He feels it in his blood.  Something he has only felt with Laura in more than half a decade.  And more recently, with Peter.

 _Peter_. He still wasn’t able to figure out, what his uncle is up to, but he disappeared at the exact moment, when the alphas were leaving town. Coincidences never existed in Peter’s life, that’s why Derek is so concerned about that fact. He knows there is a plan.  Peter always has a plan and whatever it is, it isn’t going to end well.

He steps outside onto the porch, eyes trained on the direction the heartbeat is located.  Just a few breaths later he makes out a figure in the woods that _definitely_ isn’t Peter. It’s far too small and frail to be his uncle.  The only details he can make out for certain are the glowing blue eyes when they suddenly start coming at him.

Derek growls out a warning into the darkness of the forest, red eyes flashing, in the hopes that the stranger would be smart enough to turn around and never come back. Their scent is all wrong.  It smells of family and that pulls at him disconcertingly.

The figure with the blue eyes freezes in place and Derek catches the scent of fear and confusion emanating from them. Their heartbeat races and the blue eyes disappear.

Derek steps off the porch, a few yards closer to the edge of the clearing. 

”Who are you?”  He speaks calmly, not bothering to raise his voice to shout, knowing they could hear him as if he were standing right beside them. But there is no answer.

Derek sighs, uninterested in playing games.  But before he can open his mouth to express that, the figure starts moving again, approaching him carefully, cautiously.  Soon they emerge from the shadows of the woods to reveal themselves to be nothing more than a child. 

A little _girl_ stands before him, smelling like family, like pack, and he doesn’t understand.  That shouldn’t even be possible.

He looks straight into very familiar eyes.  The same eyes staring back at him every morning in the mirror.  His eyes.  His mother’s eyes.

The little girl shuffles closer, unsure, studying him curiously as if trying to gauge whether or not he’s really there.  She still projects the same fear and confusion but now it’s tempered with excitement.

Derek studies her in the same manner, trying to understand how this child could possibly be related to him.  He doesn’t know how it happened but he’s sure it is a fact.  He watches her face, the shape of her brow, her cheekbones, the way the corner of her mouth is tipping up into a faint smile.

His heart skips and there’s a full second where he’s afraid it might not start back up again.  He knows that smile.  It belongs to the woman who destroyed everything he ever cared about.  The woman who broke his heart and burned his family alive.  Kate Argent.

There was a time when he would give anything to see that smile, but now the memory of it haunts him, twisting like a knife in his heart.  He struggles for control over his torrential emotions until the silence is broken by the child’s shaky voice.

“Are you … my real daddy?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww- thanks for all your lovely comments, kudos and even bookmarks ! It means a lot to me and the next chapter won't take me this long to write - I promise ;D  
> Thanks to my lovely Beta Jenny (sayhellotomshyde)! <3

 

_From: Derek – 11:35pm_

Need some help!

 

Stiles’ eyes widen at the message on the screen.  Not only is Derek texting him, but he seems to need his help. His help.  Stiles.  _Oh shit_! So not good.  Without stopping to think if the text may have been meant for someone else, he runs downstairs and grabs his keys on the way out the door.  He can’t use his dad’s car because he had taken it into work; an emergency, for which the sheriff is needed to be in attendance. So that’s why he’s running all out toward Scott’s. Ms McCall had the morning shift this week, so she should be home.

When he finally arrives, he’s relieved to note that he was right. Her car is parked in the drive.  Out of breath from running, he rings the bell several times and knocks wildly at the door, nearly falling inside when it jumps open.

“Oh my god!  Stiles!  Are you okay?  Did anything happen to Scott?”

Stiles immediately rights himself, “Oh, eh … this is gonna sound crazy, but I really need to borrow your car.”

Melissa just stares at the teen, like she no longer believes anything is beyond reason when it comes to Stiles.  Even banging on her door at nearly midnight asking for her car when he had a perfectly good jeep of his own.  But the panic in his eyes is new and it does nothing to ease her growing concern.  “Stiles!  Is Scott alright?!

“Oh yeah, totally!”

Stiles hesitates, seeing that she doesn’t believe him.  He’s beyond relieved that the parental units finally know what’s going on.  In fact, Ms McCall was a great help during all that mess with the alpha pack.  But lying about all the werewolf stuff had sort of become second nature and he had to forcefully remind himself that he didn’t have to do that anymore.

“I don’t know … but everything will be fine. Don’t worry. I just really need the car!”

Melissa grabs her jacket and keys without another thought and is pulling the door closed behind her when Stiles interrupts. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!  What are you doing?!”

He blocks her way with his arms, after gesturing wildly with them. Scott would never forgive him, if he just let’s his mother run into the unknown danger.

“I’m driving.”

“What?!  No!”

Melissa huffs out a laugh.  “My son.  My car.  Don’t for one second think you’re leaving me behind.”

“But … “

“STILES!”

Melissa uses her ‘mom’ voice, leaving no room for argument.  But Stiles doesn’t give up.  He couldn’t do that to Scott.  Not only would he be putting his mom in danger, he had also made a promise to his best friend to keep her out of the werewolf stuff as much as possible.  Especially on a full moon. Scott didn’t want his mom to see him like that. Out of control.  He didn’t want her to see him as a monster.

“No, listen.  I need you here. If something really has happened to Scott, this is the first place he’d come back to.  So somebody needs to stay. Just in case.”

Okay, so that’s a total lie.  If something was really off then Mr Argent would probably be the first to know since he’s keeping tabs on anything and everything that comes near his daughter.  But … details.

Stiles gets no answer for what feels like an eternity, but he can see that she is thinking it through; struggling with herself. In the end, she hands over the car keys and turns around.

“Just make sure he’s alright, okay?”

“Always.”  He nods reassuringly and runs to the car, starts the engine and drives all the way to the preserve.

 

 

**-**

The little girl is sitting on the couch, watching the older man leaning against a door frame.

“Where are your parents?”

She looks at him questioning, like she doesn’t understand why he is asking this.

“At home.”

Derek sighs.  He is not the most patient person at the best of times and this whole situation isn’t making things any easier.

“And where is your home?”

She thinks about that for a long moment before throwing her body back onto the couch and hiding her eyes behind her arms.

“I don’t know…”

Of course she doesn’t know.  Derek is stressed out enough already.  If this had been any other person he was talking to he’d have already rolled his eyes and snapped at the one. But this isn’t any other person.  This is a little girl.  His daughter.  She’s family and that means it’s his responsibility to protect her, cheer her up, even by a little gesture of embarrassment.

“We’ll figure it out.”

He takes a deep breath and tries to settle his thoughts before he continues.

“How old are you?”

He could guess, and he’s sure he’d be right, but wants confirmation. Needs confirmation.

She pulls her arms away from her eyes and raises up onto her elbows to look at him.  “Five.”

And there it is, all the confirmation he needs.  The funny thing is that as soon as he gets it he doesn’t want it anymore.  He wants to be proven wrong.  He wants to hear someone say how stupid it is.  How stupid he is for even considering the possibility. But there’s no one else.  Just one little, innocent girl, sitting in what remains of his family’s home, telling him the last thing he wanted to hear.

The fire was six years ago, which means her sixth birthday would have to be at the end of this year.  And considering the last time he was with Kate was in January …

He doesn’t have to ask for another confirmation, because the little girl wants to enlighten him.

“But I will be six years old on my next birthday. I just have to wait till October.”

At that thought, she starts to smile brightly and Derek can see it again. He sees Kate sitting in front of him, smiling on her victory.

When he looks closely, he sees even more resemblances shining through.  She has Kate’s hair.  And her nose.  All that reminds him of his family are her eyes and facial structure.  Those belong to his mother.

He feels the hatred rising up; his jaw clenches and his hands ball into fists.  When he looks at her all he can see is Kate and it makes his blood boil.  He turns around, looking anywhere but at the child, and tries his best to calm down.

 

 

**-**

Something is wrong. Something is so wrong. There is always something wrong.

Stiles pulls up in front of the Hale house and kills the engine.  He jumps out of the car and heads inside the ruined building.

He stops when he sees Derek standing in the door frame beside the stairs, looking at him with an expression that does not bode well.

“Hey, what happened?! Is everyone still alive?”

Derek just raises an eyebrow.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well your message genius!” Stiles quotes “Need some help!”, still unbelieving, that he has to point out the obvious.

When the realization hits Derek, he feels slightly sorry for a split second for making Stiles worry like that. He forgot about the three locked up werewolves, because of his own little problem, who is still sitting patiently on the couch.

“Everyone’s fine. They’re locked up in the cells.”

Stiles really doesn’t understand what’s going on, but it’s nice to hear that his best friend is okay.

“Wait! You mean they were okay the whole time and I made Scott’s mom freak out for nothing?!”

He pauses for a little while, thinking it all through. “Yeah … no, thanks man. That will be a nice correction of irregularities.”

“It’s not my fault you made the wrong assumption,” Derek clarifies, shrugging.

Stiles has to admit that he really shouldn’t be surprised.  Of course it’s his fault – who would doubt that – but he isn’t going to argue about Derek’s lack of communication skills.

“Fine, what’s the problem then?”

He notices Derek’s whole body tighten and sees the helpless expression on the alpha’s face, even though he’s clearly fighting it. Whatever’s going on, it’s freaking Derek out and Stiles isn’t sure if he should stay and listen or run for his life while he still has the chance.

He opts for the former, hoping he won’t regret it, and follows Derek into the room off to his left.  At first he can’t see anything, but after taking a few steps forward and peering around Derek’s massive shoulders, he notices the young girl with the beautiful eyes.

Stiles couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly, but something about her fascinates him.  She is just sitting there quietly, leaning back against the couch.  She doesn’t look terrified.  She looks … unsure, but not afraid.  She stares at them like she’s doing her best to understand what’s happening around her.  Stiles thinks she’s utterly adorable.  Her light brown hair falls in soft waves to her shoulders and frames her cutie pie face.  She isn’t smiling, but he bets it would look just as precious as the rest of her.  But what he loves most are her eyes.  They’re oddly familiar but he’s not entirely sure why.  But the most confusing part of all is why she’s there in the first place, sitting in the burned out Hale house in the middle of the night wearing moon and stars pajamas.

He doesn’t want to alarm her, so he remains calm and turns to face Derek.  The werewolf is looking thoughtfully at the young girl before eyeing Stiles questioningly.  Both men just stare at each other for a few seconds before Stiles realizes that apparently he’s not going to offer anything else.  He grabs the alpha’s arm with a sigh and pulls him out onto the porch, away from young ears.

“Well? Who is she?”

Derek remains silent, struggling with whether or not to tell him the truth, worried that other buried truths could be excavated along with it.  He just stares at Stiles for a long moment before making up his mind, “Apparently … she’s my daughter.”

Stiles eyes widen almost comically and his mouth gapes open.  For a second his mind goes completely blank.  Derek Hale, the town’s broody, angry and untrusting alpha is the father of an adorable little girl.  He can’t do anything but stare at Derek until his brain catches up.  “Heterochromia like that isn’t exactly common.  It’s actually pretty rare.”

“What?” That’s the only word that comes to mind at Stiles’ bizarre reaction.  He certainly hadn’t been expecting that.

“Her eyes.  The coloring.  It’s just like yours.  Apparently it’s genetic.”

“I’m telling you that I apparently have a daughter and you’re talking about our flawed eye coloring?”

“I think it looks beautiful.”

“You think I have beautiful eyes? Can you please focus on the problem, Stiles!?”

Stiles presses his lips together in a thin line, thinking about what he just said – _implied_ – he hadn’t said it out loud.  He drops his eyes to the rotted porch and scratches his head, waiting for his heart to settle back into a normal rhythm.  “Okay … so what do you need /me/ for?”

Derek shrugs, hands in his jacket pockets, as if it would be the most obvious answer in the history of possible and impossible answers, but Stiles is still clueless.

Derek sighs.

“You’re the sheriff’s son.  So call your father and make him take her home.”

“What? Why?”

“Why? Stiles, she just ran off in the middle of the night. What do you think her parents will do, huh?”

“But you just found her…”

 “I don’t want her!” Derek shouts insistently, and Stiles’ eyes widen in shock, staring at the man in disbelief.

He doesn’t get it at all.  Of course he understands that this is an overwhelming situation, but Derek just found out he’s a father and that he’s missed out on her whole life so far.  How could he not want to know more about his own child?

The sound of small footsteps running toward them makes Stiles cringe and turn around.  Oh shit.  He catches sight of the little girl as she runs past them, scurrying off the porch and into the forest as fast as the little legs will carry her.  He shouts out after her, hoping she’ll stop and come back, but to no avail.  She never even looked back.

Stiles looks helplessly at Derek’s blank expression.  He can’t be sure but it almost looks like he’s punishing himself mentally for forgetting the most obvious fact.  At least that’s what his dad looked like every time he realized he was speaking about his late wife as if she was still alive.  It happened a lot in the early days and every single time Stiles just felt broken.  Seeing his dad with that blank expression of self-flagellation was hard to bear.

“But … wait!  She’s a werewolf?”  He really shouldn’t be that surprised.  Actually, it should have been his first thought, but he’s still caught on the fact that Derek has a daughter.

“Yeah.  That’s why we have to find her.  Until the sun rises, it’s still a full moon.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my lovely Betas Jenny (sayhellotomshyde)!  
> She makes such an awsome job and I love her for that! <3
> 
> Have fun ;P

“Can’t you just sniff her out or _activate_ one of your other super senses?”

“I am!  We’re already following her trail.”

“Shouldn’t we have _/already/_ found her, then?  We’ve been walking through this stupidly large forest for half an hour!  Are you sure that your nose is fully functioning?  I think we’re lost.  In fact, I think I recognize that tree back there.”

Stiles points randomly at a tree in the distance.  He knows he’s being harsh but he doesn’t feel sorry for it.  Derek doesn’t deserve anything better at the moment.

“No, you don’t! Would you just _shut up_ for a second?”

And he does. He stays quiet, but not because he doesn’t have anything else to say and far less because Derek had told him to, but because he is too angry right now to answer properly. He has a feeling like he already goaded too much and he would like to avoid a fight with a werewolf tonight. 

 

-

 

Derek would be surprised that Stiles actually listened and shut up for once, but right now he’s too busy concentrating on the child’s scent that is getting stronger the closer he gets.

His heart aches when he thinks about what he said to her.  It’s true, though.  He doesn’t want her.  He doesn’t want to be a father.  And it’s not like he could keep her, anyway.  But he never meant for her to hear any of that.

“HEY, MISSY!  IT’S DARK AND COLD, okay, maybe not that cold, but DANGEROUS OUT HERE!  YOU SHOULDN’T BE OUT HERE ON YOUR OWN!”

“Stop that, Stiles … if she is near us, she can hear you just fine, even without shouting.”

“Yeah … like she heard you? How could I forget?”

Derek just remains quiet, but he can feel the anger rising in his chest. It’s not like he did it on purpose and for sure he doesn’t need Stiles to lecture him.

“Anyway, if I shout, she will hear me from farther away. That’s something good. So I will continue the shouting, thanks.”

“Then at least stop with those ridiculous nicknames … missy, princess, and cutie pie?”

“You’re the one who couldn’t even tell me her name. You discovered that you have a daughter but didn’t even ask for her name? Seriously … something’s so wrong with you! But hey! … I guess it’s easier to get rid of something without a name, right?”

 Derek tries to ignore those words as much as he tries to ignore how much they hurt him, because Stiles just hit the nail right on the head. Suddenly he stays still and focuses, focuses on the painful crying and the anxious sobbing. Without wasting even one more second, he starts to run. He doesn’t think of anything else but the crying girl and all the possible cruel things that could have happened to her.

When he arrives, he swallows instinctively. A little girl … his little girl is hanging headlong in a hunter’s trap, crying and sobbing, surrounded by nescience and fear. He smells it and even more he feels it. He reaches for his daughter, trying to stabilize her and holding up her head, so that the blood is able to reflow somewhere else than there, when he hears Stiles’ concerned “Oh my god.” by arriving. The boy immediately tries to unlock the fastening, but almost lets go of the tightrope when he gets it open.

“DAMMIT, Stiles! Be careful!”

Stiles flinches for a second at the panic in Derek’s voice but concentrates fast on the tightrope again.

“Sorry.” He adds quietly, and soon Derek finally holds the little girl in his arms.

This must be one of Argent’s old works. They quit the family business, but didn’t remove all of their traps they left in the forest. Derek himself just destroyed the ones near his house.

He could still hear the quiet sobbing, but at least she stopped crying. Every instinct is telling him to protect her, to comfort her. So he holds her tight while she clings firmly to him, arms around his neck, where her face is already resting. When she starts to sniff at him he finds himself letting her. He can’t explain why, but it doesn’t seem like she is the only one who’s calmed because of it.

They’re just standing like that for a couple of minutes.  He’s stroking her back when Stiles finally moves forward.

“So … everything alright?”

Derek looks at him and checks the little girl’s heartbeat before nodding.  But the girl shakes her head, clearly disagreeing and still sobbing.

“I don’t like it.”

Her voice sounds broken and helpless and Derek feels immediately hurt. He wants to help her, but doesn’t exactly know what she means.

“What don’t you like?”

She is still sniffing at him, but starts to bury her face in his shoulder now, answering quietly.

“Turning into a monster.”

Derek’s eyes widen in shock. He remains still and quiet, doesn’t know what to say. There are so many thoughts rumbling in his head right now. If she really shifted then she must have gotten hurt when she ran into the trap. The pain would make her shift back if it’s strong enough. He instantly checks her for wounds, but all he finds are terrified and teary eyes.

A monster? That’s what she thinks she is? That’s simply wrong. Derek feels the rage rising. He can’t explain why he is searching for Stiles in this moment, but when he finds him he sees another pair of sad eyes. Derek doesn’t know what he is supposed to do in this moment. None of his siblings or cousins, none of his family thought of themselves as monsters. They were always praised for being proud of what they were; they were always told that this is a gift. When he was fifteen years old he learned that it can also be a curse. But he never believed himself to be a monster or a ‘dumb animal’. And then he understands. He got praised and taught. She has no one to do it for her. She has two parents who probably don’t even understand what she is; who somehow found a way to deal with it, but would never think of it as ‘normal’.  Of course she thinks of herself as a monster, if no one ever told her otherwise.

“Despite what everyone else is thinking of your abilities, you’re definitely _not_ a monster! You’re special, you’re one of us and you can be proud of that! Never think differently!”

He gets stared with two pairs of wide eyes and feels very uncomfortable with it, so he decides to start walking back. If he didn’t know better, he would say that Stiles grinned proudly at him and a warm feeling would rise in his chest, _but he definitely knows better_. The little girl rests her head on his shoulder, burying her face in his neck and doesn’t make any insinuations to let go of him anytime soon, so he just carries her, followed by Stiles.

 

-

 

On the way back Derek looks down at his shoulder, feeling a wet liquid flowing down from there to his collarbone. He’s surprised at the fact that he doesn’t even mind it at all. The little one is asleep, her heart beats calmly and that’s everything that counts for him at the moment. And **that** actually really concerns him. He can’t allow himself to deepen the already existing bond between them. She can’t stay with him. He doesn’t want her. His whole face stiffens and he looks up from her and back into the dark forest in front of them. Stiles seems to notice the change in his expression.

“So … a mini werewolf; a werecub. …Do you say cub?”

Yeah, he _definitely_ noticed.

“Depends on who you ask,” Derek answers quiescently, and it’s true. There is no special term for what to call a werewolf child. Some prefer to use the term for wolves and some prefer the term for humans, so it’s mostly ‘cub’ or ‘baby’. Even in his family the opinions differed on this point. He remembers that Peter always called them ‘cubs’ and that his parents always corrected him on that. They preferred the simple term ‘children’. There never was a serious discussion about that topic and Peter always laughed when he got corrected, but no one let go of their terms either.

“What is it?”

Derek raises an eyebrow and looks at the questioning but smiling face of Stiles and apparently his eyebrow is saying enough to make Stiles explain himself.

“You smiled. Well … almost, but there was a slight twitch of your lips. I totally saw that. Denying is pointless!”

At first he looks slightly puzzled, but then his lips twitch again, actually they stay in a full smile, even if it’s not for long. To remember things of his past, especially of his family, is always painful, but sometimes it could make him smile anyway. Sometimes it’s not only painful, but fragrant and exhilarant.

“I can smile, Stiles.”

“Well, you should do it more often then, because it suits you!”

Stiles notices that this was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Derek’s face stiffens again.

“There is not much to smile about, if you hadn’t noticed.”

Derek gazes into the distance, smelling that they’re almost back at home. No, not home, just back. He badly wants to call it home again, but this town and this house brought him nothing but pain and destruction. A sarcastic snort banishes his thoughts.

“ _Please_ , you’ve got me around. I’m hilarious! If you can’t smile at all my witty jokes then there is definitely something wrong with you. And you know what … that is pretty offensive. I’m working very hard on my sarcastic defense, you know. I would love to say it’s a god given gift, but it’s not, I’m …”

Stiles stops talking immediately when he notices the little girl shifting in Derek’s arms, hugging him even tighter.  But then she turns her head to the other side so that she’s facing Stiles, mumbling softly to herself.

“What did she say?” Stiles asks, curious, unable to turn his eyes away from the sleeping beauty.

“I don’t know,” Derek simply answers, and silence falls between them.

A silence that Stiles can’t bear.

“How did she find you, anyway?”

“I don’t know.”

Stiles sighs, clearly disappointed by the lack of knowledge here.

“But I could guess,” Derek adds. “Three weeks ago I started to feel this bond and smell this scent of family. At first I thought it would have something to do with Peter and whatever he is planning, but now I think it was her all the time. Maybe her family moved here or at least near Beacon Hills, near enough to feel or smell each other. Today is a full moon, so I guess that, when she shifted, she just followed the scent on instinct.”

“Huh.” Stiles huffs astounded.

“She couldn’t tell me, where she is living. I guess a new address would explain that as well.” Derek adds confidently.

“Oh yeah! Learning an address is a complex subject. Not to underestimate! Even in the third grade I couldn’t tell people, where I’m living. When I met Scott, I was adamant, that we always play at his place.” Stiles huffs a laugh, “Just because I was too embarrassed to admit, that I don’t know my address.”

Derek only returns Stiles’ bright grin with a raised eyebrow and lets silence fall between them. He takes comfort in it, but there is still the risk of thinking too much about the wrong subjects. On the other hand, he never has enough time to do so with Stiles around. Maybe that’s the reason, why he doesn’t mind the presence of the teen, even if he gets driven crazy far too often by the boy.

“You still wanna give her up?”

“ … Yeah.”

It was just a second of hesitation and he hopes that Stiles missed it. According to the disappointed face turning away from him, he did. He should be glad about it, but he isn’t. There is something inside of him that wants to show Stiles that he isn’t the coldhearted, big bad alpha like everyone used to think of him.  There is something that wants Stiles to trust him to take care of difficult situations, but when he sees the teen’s face now he realizes that he failed again.

“I’ll pick her up tomorrow, so at least take care of her for the rest of the night. I’ll come after school. Shouldn’t be too hard to find out where she is living.”

“Okay.”

The rest of the way passed in silence.  


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written almost a year ago - it was just waiting to get overlooked.  
> Unfortunately I lost my super awsome Beta Reader Jenny! TwT
> 
> //Remember this story was started after season 2, so I won't change all of it now - just to adjust it to season 3.  
> I will bring up the new characters in other ways though. //

**Chapter 4**

 

Stiles made his way home as soon as the black car of Mrs. McCall got into his sight. It wasn’t much fun to tell her that, in fact, there never was something wrong and that she stayed awake, worried and terrified for nothing. It wasn’t much fun either to explain to his dad, who already got back from the station by the time he arrived, why exactly he was gone. But all’s well that ends well, right? So Stiles takes a quick shower, before he will befriend with his bed to get at least one full hour of sleep.

 

-

 

Derek on the other hand still can’t call it a day. There are two hours left until the sun is rising and another full moon came through. As far as he notices the cell really seems to make a good job of curbing the werewolves. Maybe it doesn’t even have to anymore. His sight wanders to the little girl, who is sleeping on his couch, babbling something to herself from time to time. He still can’t believe that he has a daughter with Kate. He tries really hard to control himself, to not let himself think about Kate in relation to her, but every time she smiles at him, his heart is aching. When he notices that his thoughts are drifting again to unwelcome topics, he starts to distract himself. He begins to work out and ends up by ordering the books, which are unequally distributed in the ruins of the Hale house. When there is nothing to do for him anymore, he decides to free the three teens. The sun still isn’t rising by the time he enters the basement, but he feels the moon losing its influence, so he guessed it would be okay.

It’s quite on the way to the cell and the discomfort lies heavily on Derek. He wants to finish this as soon as possible and avoid the basement for the following thirty days. He comforts a little, when he recognizes the chatter of three - surprisingly tensed - boys that pervades the whole basement from the tunnel to the cell. Derek speeds up and arrives not a minute later in the used one. He is not surprised to see Scott and Isaac in full control, even if he notices the new destructions in there, so they might have lost it at least one time. Only Boyd still struggles to find his anchor. But Derek isn’t much surprised about that either. Boyd is still the youngest werewolf here in town and most of the time as wolf he spent captured.

Nevertheless the omega by choice isn’t out of control completely. He is in his right mind, but not able to shift back completely. Before Derek gets the chance to enquire about their wellbeing, he gets drilled with questions and nervous glances, whereat Isaac is a second faster than Scott.

“What happened up there?”

“Yeah man… is everything alright?”

Derek takes himself a second to think about those questions, but doesn’t get the cause of it.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Why are you even asking?

Neither Scott nor Isaac is first at answering that, since Boyd decides to take the part of explaining.

“We heard you growling loudly. Sounded like some kind of warning shot.”

Derek nods knowingly off to his side now.

“Don’t worry about that.” he lets slip desultorily and heads to Isaac first.

He just started to unlock the chains, when he hears Scott complaining.

“See?! You’re doing it again!”

Derek turns his head to face Scott with a puzzled look, but remains quiet.

“You’re keeping stuff from us. How exactly are we supposed to trust you, when you’re always keeping something to yourself? I thought we were past that!”

Derek’s gaze wanders to the bottom of the cell. He ponders the argument of the teen and sighs, when he finally arrives at a result.

“You’re right.” He faces Scott again. “You still don’t have to worry. It’s a personal problem and it will be gone as fast as it arrived.”

Derek turns back to unlock Isaac, who is exchanging unbelieving looks with Boyd, while Scott throws his head back dramatically at the still existing lack of information.

Derek doesn’t miss anything of it and a short glare to Boyd makes him freeze in his actions. He can’t do that. He can’t allow the gap between the others and him to regrow and risk losing the new earned trust that they all build up over the past months, while fighting the alpha pack. Even if it’s not that deep yet, it is a start. He gets another chance to make things right; to be a better alpha and he doesn’t want to waste it, even if that means to overcome his shadows and to deal with his demons. Situations like the one with Erica and Boyd aren’t allowed to happen ever again.

He notices that every pair of eyes in this cell is focused on him and tries to figure him out, but he still takes a moment to convince himself not to retract this time.

“There was someone in the forest … another werewolf.” He paused for a few seconds and looks at a bunch of surprised and tensed teenagers, who are still eyeballing him. He doesn’t exactly know how to continue, so he just comes straight to the point.

“It’s my daughter. She is still very young and just brought here by her instincts. The sheriff will bring her home today. I’ll take care of the situation, so you don’t have to worry about it. It won’t affect you.”

The only noise in the cell is made by the handcuffs Derek is unlocking and the silence keeps going until every werewolf is finally freed.

“I didn’t know you have a daughter, man.” Scott just throws in, still wondering over that fact.

“Me neither.” Derek simply replies and everyone goes quiet again for a moment.

“So thanks, I guess.”

Scott’s gaze points directly at Derek, who just responds with a questioning look. But other than Stiles, Scott doesn’t seem to make his effort to read it, so he put his facial expression into words.

“For what?”

“This cell. It worked.”

Derek simply nods in approval, before everyone is leaving the basement.

 

-

 

After Scott and Boyd headed home, Isaac is joining Derek in the old wrecked house. Well, actually Isaac doesn’t want to call it a house, because that’s by far too optimistic for that fallen wood. But he doesn’t want to be disrespectful either, so he just goes with the flow on that one.

“So … that’s her?”

He crouches down beside the barely alive couch to observe the young lady in her peaceful sleep, focused on her breathing.

“Yeah.”

“She is cute.”

Isaac’s gaze wanders to Derek and tries to catch some kind of reaction, but the alpha remains quiet. So Isaac decides to let it go as well. He watched the young girl for another few minutes, before he makes himself ready for school.

It doesn’t take long, so he still got some time to look over his homework. With all those werewolf stuff, it’s never enough time for school and he still didn’t get the chance to make his D in chemistry up.

Isaac’s laying his papers on the cold floor beside him. _/ It’s still enough time. /_ That’s what he said to his father. But it’s not anymore. There are just two months left till the end of this school year. It was definitely a special one, albeit in more bad than good ways. He picks up one of the papers again to read it carefully. This is not good. Chemistry never was one of his strengths. Maybe he could make his grade up with a lot of extra work, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do it in proper quality and there would be nobody to help him. He still has no one. Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true. He built up a deep friendship with Scott and he can rely on Boyd as well. But Scott wouldn’t be a great help, considering he has enough to do with keeping his own grades up. Boyd on the other hand is a good student however he is not in the best mental condition right now. Maybe he should just try to befriend with the D in Chemistry. At least no one would punish him.

“Who are you?”

Isaac turns his head and finds a pair of nervous, but curious eyes directed at him, which belong to the little girl on the couch.  

“Eh … My name’s Isaac.”

The girl crawls at the end of the couch, a few steps from Isaac, and hides behind the armrest, just to look over it and observe the unknown boy.

“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m part of your father’s pack.”

The girl remains quiet and so does Isaac. He sees in her expression that she is thinking about the things he said and wants to give her some time to come to a conclusion.

“You’re part of the pack.” She points out with strong conviction.

He has to smile at that one, amused by the girl’s try to bind that fact to her mind forever. She sounded so convinced and knowing that Isaac is taken by surprise through her next question.

“What does that mean?”

Isaac is pretty sure that his face is as blank as his mind. What does it mean to be part of a pack? If she doesn’t know that, then she won’t understand the terms ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ either. ‘Your daddy is my boss’ doesn’t sound right and the terms ‘master’, ‘captain’, ‘superior’ or ‘leader’ likewise. ‘A pack is a partnership of convenience’ doesn’t sound completely wrong in his ears, so maybe that should work. But before he could start his explanation, Derek enters the room and takes over that duty.

“That means he is family!”

While the little girl’s face is forming a bright smile, Isaac’s eyes are going wide. He is relieved that Derek is turning around in an instant for some reason, so he can hide his surprised amazement. Isaac feels good all of a sudden and that is giving him enough motivation to get his homework right.

“Isaac takes care of you for a moment. You can trust him.” Isaac hears marginal, before Derek is going upstairs.

He still has half an hour left, before he should head into school. Something about this chemical equation is wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it, so he just studies the paper continuing.

“What is this?”

Isaac feels her little hand pressing into one of his legs to stabilize herself, while she is showing with her finger on the paper in his hand.

“It’s my homework. You know … for school.”

“Is it difficult?”

“Yep, it is, at least for me.”

“What is written there?” The girl points at a word right in the middle.

“Magnesium. It’s a chemical element.”

Isaac can see that she has no idea, what he is talking about, but he is impressed with how much self-confidence she is covering it up.

“I know that one. What’s this?” She is pointing at another word and Isaac answers her question. Another one follows and then again till Isaac ends up by reading his whole homework to her, followed by his essay for English and that one for French.

 

-

 

“Scott!” Stiles shouts by crowding through a bunch of teenagers in the school cafeteria and makes his way to the table, where his best friend is already sitting.

“Hey Stiles.”

“Hey buddy. How was the moon night in the alpha’s yard, huh?” Stiles smiles.

“Okay, I guess. Nothing bad happened.”

Scott’s gaze wanders to Allison, when he notices her smell. She is entering the cafeteria at the side of Lydia and the school queen’s new boyfriend. Stiles follows his friend’s eyes and sighs immediately, followed by a slap at Scott’s shoulder.

“Come on dude. You have to get over it eventually. It’s more than four months now and she even had a boyfriend in between.”

“She _dumped_ him.”

“She dumped _you_.”

Stiles gets stared by two broken, helpless and kind of shocked eyes and the most awful thing about this is, that there is no way he can stand them. Scott’s lost puppy face always hits him right in the stomach.

“Okay, look … if you really want to win her back … which would be a _terrible_ idea by the way, then you have to do something about it. You can’t just stare at her all the time … that’s creepy.” Stiles pauses for a second and picks up one of his curly fries, just to wave it lightly through the air and finish his speak, “You’re turning into Derek.”

Scott doesn’t get the chance to argue about that, since Stiles continues euphoric all of a sudden “Who, by the way, has a _daughter_! Did you know that? Did you meet her?”

Scott can’t answer on that either and pretty much for the same reason, even if Stiles is less euphoric this time and seems to talk more to himself as to his friend.

“This is awesome! I mean it should be, but he seems to think differently. I just don’t understand why he wants to give her away. Okay, bringing her back to her parents, who are probably worried as hell, doesn’t seem to be _wrong_ … but he doesn’t even want to know her name. He doesn’t want her in his life, like ever! I wish I could do something about it, you know … something that would change his mind.”

“Oh no! Don’t do that, dude.”

“What?”

“You know what! You already have this expression that tells you’re working on a plan. I think it wouldn’t be a very good idea to infiltrate such a personal area of Derek’s life. I don’t even think it’s a good idea to infiltrate his life at all!”

“Okay, but what about her, huh? Should she grow up without him? You shouldn’t forget she is a werewolf as well. She will need him sooner or later.”

“I don’t know. Her parents seem to have a way to handle this. Despite that, it’s better to grow up without a father than with a bad one and Derek doesn’t really have father qualifications.”

Stiles feels bad for a moment, because of Scott’s own fatherly problems and thinks his best friends arguments through.

“I think you’re wrong about Derek. Actually … I think he would be a great father.”

“You’ve already got a plan, do you?”

Stiles just smiles at his friend, certain of victory.

-


End file.
